With her visionary attitude, she opened Beauty by Mary K in 1963 - the first company dedicated to making life more beautiful for women, both internally and externally. Although her savings were only $ 5,000, with the help of her son Richard for expenses.
She founded the Mary K. Ash Charitable Foundation in 1996, a non-profit foundation that supports cancer research for cancers that affect women. It expanded its efforts to help fight violence against women in 2000.